Well, The Good Wife may be trying to rid herself of that title.

Last night’s episode was fast-paced and – as usual – difficult to follow if you didn’t pay close attention. I made the mistake of grabbing a snack a few seconds after the beginning and missed exactly how a newspaper’s managing editor died in a bombing at the newspaper where he worked.

There’s always a good case that weaves throughout the main story line.

Nonetheless, I was able to jump right in. The important piece of the puzzle was that Alicia’s firm — Stern, Lockhart & Gardner – was defending the newspaper in question. Negotiations changed when the wife of the deceased newspaperman decided she wanted a new attorney: Jonas Stern. Stern (formerly a partner at Stern, Lockhart & Gardner — his name just hasn’t been removed from the sign yet) – walked into the room and made no bones about the fact that he hopes to damage Lockhart & Gardner in any way he can.

As it turns out, he’s got his eye on some of the attorneys at his old firm, including Cary and Julius. Cary finds out from an old girlfriend who’s now employed by Stern that he’s going to be asked to jump ship — a ship that’s going down in many people’s opinions.

The Stern attorney notes that everyone knows about the “competition” between Cary and Alicia about who will get to keep their current job.

But Will decides not to accept the Stern position and instead tells his boss, Will, about Stern’s attempt to poach him. “I’m a team player,” Cary notes, clearly working every angle to win that competition.

On the appeals front, Peter’s team gets wind of a “surprise witness” that the prosecution might call during the trial. When Alicia runs into Gerald Kozko, whose name has been connected to the court case before, he tells her, “Tell Peter I’m sorry.”

Well, that was enough to get everyone’s attention. When Peter’s team goes to speak to Kozko to find out if he might be the surprise witness, things don’t look good.  When they asked if the state’s attorney has offered Kozko immunity to testify against Peter, he just walks away.

Meanwhile, Peter is still seeking religion. He’s meeting with a local African American pastor weekly. It’s unclear whether this is a true conversion or a ploy to gain favor with the public. Peter’s mother, Jackie, doesn’t care for the turn of events and encourages Peter to speak to a “nice Episcopalian priest”. She tells Peter that he’s a “good man” and doesn’t need to keep apologizing to Alicia.

Peter, who wears an ankle bracelet and can’t leave the apartment, is given permission to attend church. He, Alicia and the kids visit the African American church. Halfway through the service, Peter gets up and heads to the back.

He goes to speak privately to Kozko, who tells Peter that the state’s attorney has him backed in the corner and that he has no choice but to testify against Peter. Kozko notes, “It’s not all lies. Not the videotape of us in the hotel room.”

Interesting.

Peter catches on fairly quickly that Kozko is already on his way to testifying so he rips open Kozko’s shirt. He’s wearing a wire. After Peter smashes the device, he reminds Kozko of all the stuff he knows not only about him but Kozko’s married son as well. 

“You’re a Christian, right?” Kozko asks, clearly hoping Peter’s change of spiritual heart will work to his advantage.

“**** right I am,” Peter says. “Have you ever read the Old Testament?”

Well, Alicia gets suspicious and heads to the back of the church just in time to see Kozko run out the door with a ripped shirt and Peter coming out all businesslike.

She doesn’t know exactly what’s up, but smells a rat.

Later that night, she’s talking to Will and preparing to leave the house. She tells Peter she’s going out with “an old friend” which we all know is Will.

“Am I not supposed to be jealous?” Peter asks.

“I don’t think I care what you are,” she replies. A few minutes later she tells him, “It’s over.”

You think she means the marriage – and maybe she does – but she clarifies that she’s over caring about him. He begs her to “help” him but she tells him there’s nothing he can say to change her mind.

She leaves the apartment and Peter stands at the threshold, knowing that he’s under house arrest and can’t step outside. But he makes a decision, steps to the elevator and pushes the button. Off goes the alarm. Scene.

Next week it looks like Peter catches up with Alicia and craziness ensues with the police tracking him down and the kids doing something to help their dad. The alarm continues to scream.

By Cara Cleek Ogden

Hopefully you didn’t miss this funny, engaging episode of Parenthood. But, if you did, allow me to catch you up……

Joel and Julia’s daughter, Sydney, has apparently broken a vase but is denying it. When Julia questions her honesty, Sydney counters by saying that Julia is a lawyer and that, according to her best friend Harmony’s mom (a.k.a. Julia’s arch-nemesis), all lawyers are liars. Julia decides to leave the broken vase lying on the floor until the responsible party comes clean. Sydney refuses to admit anything.

Kristina and Adam are puzzled when they receive a lacy undergarment in the mail and realize it’s meant for Haddie.  Kristina asks Haddie why she’d order such a sexy bra, which leads to a mother-daughter talk about sex and dating.  Kristina realizes that Haddie is growing up, and wants her to make the right choices.

Meanwhile, Kristina’s friend Denise is running for Lieutenant Governor and has asked Kristina to help with the campaign over the weekend. While getting wardrobe advice from Julia and Sarah, Kristina ends up telling them about Haddie’s sexy bra. The three women talk about their children’s truthfulness (or lack thereof) and Sarah makes the “all lawyers are liars” joke, suggesting in jest that Julia’s daughter Sydney may have learned to lie by example, which makes Julia get all prickly.

Drew wants to go to the school dance when he finds out the girl he’s crushing on is going. He goes to his Uncle Adam and confides that he doesn’t know how to dance. It turns out that Adam’s high school nickname was “Fever” (as in Saturday Night Fever), and Adam proceeds to clear the living room floor to give an impromptu dance demonstration which is joined by Kristina, Sarah and Julia. Drew looks on with discomfort. I’ve seen this look before, on my daughter’s face, when I try to dance.

After Crosby and Jasmine share an impulsive kiss, Crosby tells Adam that he’s reluctant to commit to a relationship.  Adam suggests that he try dating. Crosby likes this idea and invites Jasmine to go to dinner, just the two of them.

When Crosby and Jasmine drop Jabbar off at Josh and Julia’s for the evening, they take note of the broken vase which Julia has stubbornly left on the living room floor. Later that night, during their dinner date, Crosby gets a phone call from Julia saying that Jabbar is upset and wants to go home. When Crosby and Jasmine go to pick up Jabbar, they’re amused to find out that all Jabbar wanted was to go home to use the bathroom, and they work together to coax their son into using the toilet at Aunt Julia’s house. I can only assume that this was supposed to be an example of really good co-parenting. With the problem solved, Crosby and Jasmine resume their date and wake up the next morning together in Crosby’s bed.

The next day, after a few passive-aggressive talks about honesty from Julia, Sydney finally – and grudgingly – confesses to having broken the vase. Julia has won this battle of the wills, and Joel gives her a look that lets her know that he knows exactly where their daughter got her stubbornness gene.

Sarah is excited about planning a college tour for the not-so-excited Amber, and has taken on some extra work to fund it. She asks Amber to help her at a catering job that she’s working at a local college, thinking that Amber can get some inspiration from being on a college campus. Once on campus, Sarah acts so excited that you’d think it was SHE who was planning to go to school. At their catering gig, Sarah and Amber run into Jim, an old high school friend of Sarah’s that she briefly dated a few months back. She’d thought that he only worked at a coffee bar, but it turns out that Jim is a published poet and the guest of honor at the event that they’re catering. As Jim recites his poetry, Sarah realizes that his poems are about her; or more specifically, about a personal part of her anatomy. Awkwardness ensues.

On their way home, Sarah and Amber talk about Jim’s poems. Sarah’s sort of impressed at Jim’s accomplishments and Amber’s sort of grossed out. For the record, I was also grossed out. Sarah, however, somehow uses it as an example of how important it is that Amber not give up on herself. Later, Amber comes to Sarah with a Berkeley catalog. Sarah thinks Amber’s finally getting into the idea of a college tour, until Amber says the catalog is for Sarah. Maybe Sarah shouldn’t give up on herself, either.

Kristina goes off on the weekend campaign trip, but is worried about leaving her family. Adam assures her that all will be well. When she arrives at campaign headquarters and is introduced to the young staff, she quickly realizes that with her leather-bound address book and briefcase full of old files, she’s a little behind the times in today’s world of technology, “tweets” and social networking. Later, Kristina and the rest of the staff talk to an assemblyman about endorsing their candidate. Kristina’s old-school and straightforward attitude is what eventually wins the endorsement. Old-school prevails!

Adam and the kids are back at home. Haddie, who is planning to go out, is wearing a top that reveals her bra strap, and Adam realizes that she’s wearing the ”sexy” bra. Drew stops by on his way to the dance, with cold feet. Adam gives him a little pep-talk and offers to drive Drew to the dance, giving him a perfect excuse to ask Haddie to stay home and watch Max, thus preventing her from going on her date. However, Adam and Drew quickly return; Drew having been shot down by the girl he likes. Haddie tries to leave for her date and Adam stalls her. Haddie realizes that the fact that she’s wearing the “sexy” bra is making her dad uncomfortable and calls Adam’s bluff by unhooking the bra and pulling it from under her shirt, dropping it on the table as she leaves the house, bra-less.  Adam soon goes after her, finding her at her boyfriend’s house, making out on the bed in his room. Adam tells Haddie it’s time to leave and of course, she’s furious. Later at home, Adam lays down the law. Haddie points out that he’s showing a double standard with his encouragement of Drew and the school dance, but his discouragement of her and her dating life. Adam gets her point, but isn’t happy about it.

Kristina returns home and tells Adam that she’s been offered a full-time job on the campaign. She confesses that she’d enjoyed what she’d been doing all weekend and Adam encourages her to take the job. As they talk about logistics, Kristina realizes that it’s not the right time for her to return to work. She’s willing to pass up the opportunity for the sake of her family, but begins to tell Adam about her weekend in an excited, animated way that leads us to believe that the case may not be quite closed.

Cara is a working single mom of a very energetic 10-year-old daughter, Ibby. Cara adds, “At the end of my day, I often have just enough strength left to operate the remote control. Thankfully, my personal life is fairly calm. So in order to up the drama quotient, I keep up with my favorite TV shows. I may feel differently in a few years when my daughter hits puberty. But for now, I’m glad to have some ‘Drama for Mama’.”

By Gwen Rockwood, mama of 3

This Sunday’s episode of Desperate Housewives was really kind of sad, even though it was about a serial killer. It gave us the background we needed on Eddie, the 18-year-old kid who grew up in the neighborhood and turned into a killer that no one suspects of even being capable of violence. And it reminds us just how HUGE a mother’s role is in the life of her child.

This episode showed Eddie’s interactions with the housewives of Wisteria Lane, including Mary Katherine (the show’s narrator who killed herself in the first episode). Eddie was 4-years-old then, and his father left him and his mother because he didn’t want kids. Eddie’s loser mom turned her anger and disappointment for the ex-husband onto her son, saying “Oh, Eddie. It’s not your fault you ruined my life.”

But she definitely treated him like it was his fault his whole life, leaving him alone for long periods of time, drinking uncontrollably, sleeping with various strange men and mocking him any time she had a chance. Worst of all, she didn’t love him and he knew it. His longing for maternal love led him to form friendships with each of the housewives of Wisteria Lane. This episode detailed those relationships and how they came to be.

It also explained how and why Julie, Susan’s daughter, was attacked. Eddie and Susan had struck up a friendship when Susan noticed Eddie’s talent for drawing. She encouraged him and even sent him to an art class that she paid for. He fell in love with her attention and encouragement and was crushed when she suddenly re-married Mike. After the wedding, he went to her house to attack her and accidentally attacked Julie who was taking out the trash in the dark. He’d assumed she was Susan.

At the end of the episode, Eddie was at Lynette’s house hanging out with her family when his mother showed up drunk at their house to berate him for hiding her booze. Lynette told her not to talk to Eddie that way, and the drunk mother basically said “What are you going to do about it?” Eddie left with his mother. Shortly afterward, his mother found a hidden scrapbook of the newspaper articles Eddie had been saving about the girls he attacked or killed. She confronted him and asked if he had attacked the girls. He admitted it. She said she “didn’t raise him that way.” He insisted that she had indeed raised him to be a monster. She tried to call the police and Eddie whacked her over the head with a bottle of booze. They struggled, and he strangled her to death, just as he had his other victims.

Just then, Lynette showed up at the door to talk to Eddie, asking him to come live at her house to escape his abusive mother. (She actually saw his mother’s body on the floor but assumed she was passed out drunk.) Eddie agreed to move in with Lynette’s family, which means she has put herself squarely in danger — just in time for the season finale. Stay tuned!